More than a year after he was struck by a car and lost his legs following an attempted traffic stop on I-270, Montgomery County police Sgt. Patrick Kepp says he is hoping to get back on the road soon to enforce traffic safety laws.
Since returning to the county police department in June, Kepp has been busy with administrative work in the department’s Gaithersburg headquarters. His return to work marked a major milestone for the 37-year-old officer after months of rehabilitation therapy at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda following the Oct. 18, 2023, crash.
Raphael Mayorga, now 21, of Frederick, the driver who allegedly struck Kepp, is expected to stand trial in April on multiple charges including attempted murder, assault, causing life-threatening injuries and eluding a police officer, according to digital court records.
“It’s been a lot of administrative stuff, but my hope is that in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be actually back out on the road and locking up those people who make the poor decision to drive drunk,” Kepp said Wednesday during a Zoom interview with MoCo360.
Since his return to work, Kepp said he also has been teaching recruits about recognizing impaired driving at the department’s police academy in Montgomery Village. Before the crash, Kepp worked nights patrolling country roads, enforcing traffic safety and making traffic stops to “lock up impaired drivers,” he said.
“That was important for me to do, to be able to pass on the knowledge and work with my team and all the other instructors that we have to teach the next generation of recruits the importance of impaired driving enforcement and traffic safety,” said Kepp, who has also been involved in training other officers.
Eager to get back into his cruiser, Kepp spoke of the months of effort it took to be able to return: from building back his strength so he could use a wheelchair to learning how to use prosthetic legs and being able to walk again.
“It’s been a long road, certainly, from Oct. 18, from the crash to now,” Kepp said.
While his recovery has been long and at times difficult and frustrating, Kepp said it has “in many ways been incredibly easy,” crediting the support he received from his family, the law enforcement community and county officials.
“To have that support network there the entire time by my side still to this day is really what has gotten me through it all,” Kepp said.
Legislation for harsher reckless driving penalties
Kepp is also working with local and state lawmakers to promote the passage of upcoming legislation calling for harsher penalties for reckless driving. Two bills are expected to be introduced during the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session, which begins in January.
According to Kepp, one of the bills involves the criminal charge of reckless endangerment. He said that within the current charge, there is a prohibition that excludes vehicle behavior from being included. The proposed law would remove that exception from the criminal penalty.
Another bill would focus on including prison sentences as punishment for those convicted of aggressive, negligent and reckless driving. By doing so, those charged with the offenses would be required to appear in court, Kepp said.
According to Earl Stoddard, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer, those charged with reckless driving are fined. And “irrespective of how dangerous your behavior is, you can just pay a fine and get some points and continue to do exactly what you’ve been doing,” Stoddard said recently.
Kepp said the goal of the legislation is “not to send everybody to jail, or to send, really, anyone to jail, unless it’s necessary,” but to use a court appearance “as an intervening tool.” He noted that supporters of such legislation hope harsher penalties would deter repeat offenders.
“All too often, we have people who are going, you know, 90, 100, 110 mph, and that’s just a payable speeding ticket, and that’s an incredibly dangerous driving behavior,” Kepp said. “By having these legislation changes, it will [require offenders] to come to court and see a judge for those behaviors.”
County Executive Marc Elrich (D) also supports the calls for stricter punishments for reckless driving.
“You should not be able to drive at outrageous speeds and go free because we can’t chase you,” Elrich said at an Oct. 17 media briefing during which he discussed the upcoming legislation. “There’s got to be a way to prevent senseless accidents like this. And it’s not fair to the innocent people who get injured or killed on our roadways. These lunatics create accidents.”
After the crash, Kepp said state lawmakers asked him to help advocate for similar proposed legislation that ultimately failed to make it through this year’s General Assembly session.
“They drafted the legislation, and it went up to the legislature in Annapolis, and I got to go testify there and advocate for it,” Kepp said. “It didn’t get passed because of some logistical issues with it being presented later in the session, and then the Key Bridge collapse impacted a lot of things.”
Now, Kepp is working alongside county officials and state legislators to file the new bills ahead of the upcoming session, with the hope they will become law and “prevent situations occurring like what happened to me.”
Kepp said he plans to testify to tell his story and explain why the proposed laws would help keep roadways safe. He said he’s “very happy to do it,” though he wishes he didn’t have to be the face of the campaign to push for harsher penalties.
“I’ve been an advocate of Traffic Safety and pretty much my whole career has been focused around DUI enforcement and traffic safety and collision reconstruction. … To be able to go in and give some person experience and personal voice, it means a lot,” Kepp said.
Ready for his ‘week in court’
In late October, the trial of Mayorga, who was 19 at the time he allegedly struck Kepp, was postponed until April 2025. The jury trial is now expected to begin April 3, according to digital court records.
“The legal system has to work the way it does for everybody and that’s the fairness and the way our system is made. So it’s just a delay. That is what it is,” Kepp said, adding that his “week” in court will come.
“There’s nothing that I can do about it,” he said. “I can’t worry about it. Whatever the day is, that’s what it’ll be and we’ll be ready to go.”
